Reply #11: Happens in a number of heavily Democratic states...

[burning rain]

California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, etc. Lack of competition at most levels begets a party of pygmies with little vision beyond delivering the goods for their fiefdom, and a Democratic governor ends up beholden to the pygmies. So a Republican governor can run as an independent advocate for the state's citizens. Democrats need to articulate a vision to make positive changes for the whole state, say, enacting living wages or paid leave or universal health care, rather than just buy off every legislator and mayor.